Wolf's Creek (Book 1 of the Wolf's Creek Trilogy)

Prologue

Prologue

September 17, 1996. 8:00 p.m

The child cried as her mother held her tightly in her arms, the cool autumn air running through her mother’s long white tresses and her father’s short white ones. Her mother tried to calm her, bouncing her and singing a lullaby in an ancient language her own mother had serenaded her with as they ran through the trees of the forest. She pressed her weak legs to keep going even though they screamed and pleaded for her to stop, the struggle of childbirth making them heavy and numb. Still she continued to run and sing to the child until she could sing no more and looked to her mate’s back with sorrow filled eyes.

“Elijah,” the woman croaked the singing and running making her throat dry and voice hoarse. He turned around to look at his love with sorrow in his eyes. “They’ll catch us at this rate.”

“I know,” he stated sadly, the cries of his new born daughter tearing his heart in twain. “She’s not safe with us Serenity,” he stated as they continued to run, their pursuers far behind them but not far enough away for them to relax.

Serenity could feel the tears running down her cheeks as she began to sing once again as she ran. The babe ceased her cries and stared up at her mother as the melody came to her ears, soothing her and making her smile which in turn earned a sad smile from her mother. She held the babe closer to her chest as her mate’s words began to ring home to her. “I don’t want to give her up Elijah!” Serenity sobbed as the light of a cabin came into view. Elijah slowed his pace and turned to his eighteen year old mate, placing his hands gently on her shoulders.

“I don’t want to give her up either,” Elijah stated the sadness evident in his voice. “But she won’t be safe with us. They’ll keep chasing us until they finally catch us and when they do they’ll kill her because a child is of no use to them. If we want her to be safe, to be happy, we have to let her go.” Serenity continued to cry as she held her bundle tightly to her chest, the babe cooing in confusion at her mother’s actions. Elijah couldn’t bear to look at his love and their child as she sobbed and turned his attention to the cabin before them. It looked warm and inviting and he could hear the sounds of a little boy trying to get his mother to tell him a story as the smell of a fire burning infiltrated his nostrils. It looked like a safe place, a happy place filled with love where his daughter would be safe for the time being. “We’ll leave her here with this family and when we’re positive it’s safe we’ll come back for her.”

Serenity turned to look at the cabin in question. Her ears caught the sound of an infant’s burp as his mother gently patted his back and she smelled the same fire as it burned brightly in the hearth of the home. It did seem like a nice place and with more tears she nodded. “Ok.”

They quietly approached the cabin and stood by the porch to say their final goodbyes to the product of their love. Serenity placed her lips to the child’s forehead and continued to cry as the infant smiled at the contact. “Mommy loves you so much Artemis,” she declared, her voice cracking as she said it. “She’ll always be thinking about you and do everything she can to find you again.”

She handed the child to Elijah and watched her mate hold their child in his arms with a sorrow filled expression, one she’d never seen on the eighteen year old young man’s face before in her life. “Artemis I have a present for you,” he stated as he shifted the infants weight into one of his arms so he could pull something from his pocket. It was a silver crescent moon amulet on a silver chain. The infant looked at it with large eyes as he gently placed it around her tiny neck and smiled as the infant’s name sparkled where it was engraved into the silver moon. “This amulet belonged to my mother. She was a strong, wise, and powerful woman with whom you share your name and I know you too will be all those things and more.” He stated as he too placed a kiss onto the infants forehead and began to walk up the front steps of the front porch. Gently, he laid the child down onto the welcome mat and smiled down at her as he caressed her cheek lovingly. “This isn’t goodbye Artemis, it’s an ‘until next time’.” With that he knocked loudly on the front door and the two teenagers jumped into the tree line, climbing into the tree tops to watch what would happen next.

A human male opened the door and looked around with his wife, who carried a baby of her own, behind him and a child of three clinging to her jeans. He looked around before Artemis’s cooing caught his attention and he looked down with wide eyes. Carefully he lifted the baby up into his arms and inspected the child.

“What is it Mark?” the woman asked as she came closer.

“It’s a baby,” Mark stated in shock as he noticed the umbilical chord that was still attached to the child making him look at the child in pity. “Her umbilical chord’s still attached.”

“Is there a note or anything?” the woman asked as she came closer to look upon the baby as well. Artemis turned her eyes towards the woman and smiled at her making the woman’s maternal instincts run wild.

Mark inspected the child’s bundle further, taking the amulet in his hand and reading the name engraved into the metal. “Her name’s Artemis it seems.”

“What should we do with her?” the woman asked in concern.

“First we take her to the hospital and make sure she’s alright,” he stated as he entered the house again to acquire his coat and keys.

The teenage couple watched as the man known as Mark pulled on his coat and enter his car, fastening the infant into the car seat in the back seat. Serenity watched with tear filled eyes as he pulled away with their only child. Elijah held her close to him as he shed tears of his own, waiting for the door to the cabin to close before telling his mate they needed to flee or their pursuers would catch up with them and discover where they’d left their child. Gracefully they jumped down from the tree and began running away from the cabin, covering their tracks as they did so to protect their precious Artemis.